News Briefs | Summer 2005

Move-In Day!

Move-In Day for this fall is Sunday, August 21, for all students moving into the residence halls. Students may bring their Teddy bears but for safety reasons must leave candles and halogen lamps at home. Parents should plan to stay for family/parent orientations and a BBQ dinner.

Carts will be available to help transport possessions from cars to residence hall rooms, but if you can, bring a dolly (hand-truck, not Baby Tears) from home.

In mid- to late July, Residential and Student Service Programs will send e-mails to all residents telling them how to access a Welcome Letter from their residence hall directors. The letter will contain unit-specific information for Move-In; a link to obtain roommate names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses; and links to Welcome Week activities and other valuable Move-In information.

Residents also will receive postcard reminders to access their Welcome Letters. The postcards will serve as Move-In Day parking permits to be placed on residents' car dashboards.

For details, go to www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/welcome_to_cal.html.

Incoming college freshmen living in dormitories should get the meningitis vaccine, according to a new recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Students should be immunized before the start of the 2005-06 school year.

The new meningitis vaccine is available to students at University Health Services—Tang Center. Once students arrive on campus, they can call 510/643-7177 for information and fees.

For more information and updates, go to www.uhs.berkeley.edu (choose "Parents & Community," then "Immunization Information").

Robert Birgeneau dedicated himself and the entire campus community to providing leadership and creating an inclusive environment when he was officially sworn in last spring as the ninth chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.

"I feel a moral obligation to address the issue of inclusion head on," Birgeneau told a packed audience at Zellerbach Hall. "Ultimately, it is a fight for the soul of this institution."

Birgeneau's speech was the highlight of a tradition-rich inaugural ceremony kicked off by a 500-person procession into Zellerbach Hall. For complete coverage of the inauguration, go to newscenter.berkeley.edu/goto/inaug.

Bethlehem's Manger Square is a good place to spread the word about the new diabetes clinics.

Every summer the online UC Berkeley NewsCenter features dispatches from students working on projects in the field. Here are this summer's students: Linguistics major Pamila
Pengra dives into Arabic language and culture in Cairo; Daniel Zoughbie, an urban studies major with a minor in Middle Eastern studies, is setting up diabetes micro-clinics on the West Bank, where his diabetic grandmother died trying to get from Bethlehem to the hospital; Sunita Puri, a student in the Joint Medical Program with UCSF and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, is studying the ethics and anthropology of pre-conception sex selection in South Asian communities in the Bay Area; and engineering physics major Michelle Yong is racing the Cal solar car, the Beam Machine, across the American heartland from Austin to Calgary. For their lively accounts of their adventures, go to newscenter.berkeley.edu/goto/sj05.

Joanne Boyle, who steered the University of Richmond to three straight postseason appearances, was named head women's basketball coach at California, Athletic Director Sandy Barbour announced last spring. Boyle has been signed to a five-year contract, extending through the 2009-10 season.

"I'm ecstatic that the University of California has successfully secured a coach of Joanne Boyle's character, professional expertise, and vision," Barbour said. Coach Boyle has "clearly demonstrated that she understands what it takes to build and sustain a women's basketball program that will compete with the nation's elite programs."

For details on all Cal intercollegiate sports, go to calbears.com.

Chancellor Birgeneau has announced plans to renovate and seismically strengthen Memorial Stadium as the centerpiece of a sweeping new vision for the southeast corner of UC Berkeley. The project aims to enhance and better integrate athletic and academic aspects of campus life.

The ambitious plan envisions three key components. First, it preserves the historic character of the grand, 82-year-old stadium and improves its seismic safety. Second, a new academic commons building serving the campus's School of Law (Boalt Hall), Haas School of Business, and Intercollegiate Athletics is planned across the street from the stadium.

Capping the area's renaissance is transformation of the Piedmont Avenue/Gayley Road area into inviting pedestrian plazas and landscaped open spaces. The goal is to integrate the stadium side of the road with the main campus.

You receive a frantic late night phone call from your newly admitted freshman. It seems that the reading list for her classes just got longer, and she is going to need another $300 for textbooks. What to do?

Ben Ailes photo

Relax. Simply log online to cal1card.berkeley.edu. Using your credit card, you can add money to your daughter's Cal 1 Card debit account safely and securely and trust that she will have the money immediately.

The Cal 1 Card Debit Plan, sponsored by Berkeley's Residential and Student Service Programs, automatically creates a debit account for any student who has an identification card. Parents and students enjoy the hassle-free flexibility that comes with the plan.

Students can "swipe" at the Cal Student Store, the five campus restaurants, the Free Speech Movement Café, selected vending machines, and laundry facilities in the residential areas. More partners are being added each semester.

Unlike credit cards, the debit cards carry no late fees or interest, and there are no membership fees, service charges, or minimum-balance charges. For more information, go to calphotoid.berkeley.edu or call 510/643-6839.

Every incoming first-year student at Berkeley is now required to take a new online alcohol education tutorial before arriving on campus. Studies show that students' ability to learn is enhanced when they are part of a safe and healthy community. To that end, University Health Services has established AlcoholEdu to help educate students about alcohol. All students joining the Cal community will gain a common understanding of the effects of alcohol and alcohol abuse, as well as skills to cope with the potentially unhealthy drinking behavior of their peers.

AlcoholEdu is an online, science-based alcohol prevention program that focuses on the impact of alcohol on the mind and body. UHS has written to new students suggesting that they talk with you about alcohol and drug use. We urge you to encourage these conversations and to reinforce your expectations for your students' behavior while they are away from home.

For more information on AlcoholEdu, go to alcoholedu.berkeley.edu beginning in July.